So, it's no secret that the Linux desktop - at least, the GNOME-side of things - is a bit in a state of disarray. Unity hasn't exactly gone down well with a lot of people, and GNOME 3, too, hasn't been met with universal praise. So, what to do? Linux Mint, currently one of the most popular Linux distributions out there, thinks they are on to the solution with their latest release, Linux Mint 12.

Linux Mint 12 has the right idea, but like all things like this, it fails at some minor details.

1) Can't Upgrade between versions.
2) GNOME 3 Mint edition is good, but very different from the Mint desktop I love.
3) MATE desktop is good too, but it's stuck in the past with GTK 2.x
4) Why does Mint have to do *everything* different?

Why can't they take the stuff that works on other distros and combine it with the stuff that works on Mint.

A MATE desktop built on GTK3 with the "Mint Menu" would be one of the greatest things ever made.

A MATE desktop built on GTK3 with the "Mint Menu" would be one of the greatest things ever made.

Just one catch with that - someone has to actually port MATE to GTK3. And while in theory the Gnome devs have already done most of the work in that regard, the MATE devs are still going to be maintaining all the bits that upstream no longer support.

Which, for the most part, are the really ugly pieces that nobody wanted to touch, and had been bitrotting for years in the Gnome repos...

It took the Gnome devs almost two years with dozens of developers. And the Mate guys should repeat the same? With how many developers? Two or three? And when they are done they will have ... tada! ... something that is equivalent to Gnome 3 fallback mode.

Linux Mint 12 has the right idea, but like all things like this, it fails at some minor details. 1) Can't Upgrade between versions.

Technically you can upgrade between versions, it just isn't recommended. In my experience upgrading between Mint versions isn't any worse than upgrading from one version of Ubuntu to another. Of course wiping the OS and reinstalling will usually take less time and be a lot less hassle.

Upgrading is where Linux Mint Debian Edition has a significant advantage over the main release. In theory, a rolling release like LMDE can be upgraded indefinitely without needing to be reinstalled, and the use of Mint's tested update packs makes regular upgrading a lot easier to deal with.